Chicago Cubs Rumors: The trade deadline has passed, what does free agency look like?

Position Three: Designated Hitter

Players available (alphabetically):

Joey Gallo
Jorge Soler

The Cubs currently have Christopher Morel as their DH, and that very well may be where he’s best suited. His bat is too good (even though it’s so streaky) to leave out of the lineup with any consistency, but his glove is too much of a work in progress to have him taint an otherwise dominant infield by putting him at third base. 

That being said, if the Cubs wanted to bring in an alternative then there are two names that jump out to me in terms of bringing significant power production. Starting with the former Cub, Jorge Soler, there’s a lot to like. He was an All-Star this year by hitting .243/.333/.491 with 25 homers so far at the time of writing. Those numbers are pretty close to his career averages but he’s a menace defensively with a career -10.0 dWAR. He had a difficult time staying healthy in the Midwest, with a lot of attention drawn to his hamstrings in the colder months, and I think that’s the primary reason we won’t see him reunite with the team that signed him to his first-ever contract in 2012.

Joey Gallo does intrigue me. He’s got insane power (potentially the most power in the league), but absolutely ludicrous swing-and-miss in his game. He’s a good defender with defensive flexibility having played everywhere in the outfield as well as third base in his career, but his calling card was/is/and always will be the bat. The Cubs would be the fourth team to bet on a rebound after having struggled to less than a .200 batting average at each of the New York Yankees, LA Dodgers and Minnesota Twins. He’s carrying a career .197 batting average but his OBP of .322 and slugging percentage of .467 is completely reasonable. He signed for $11 million with the Twins this offseason, but I’d expect him to sign for much less next year due to his continued struggles. He’ll be entering his age-30 season so he might be a bet worth making.

Decision: If you can get Gallo on a one-year deal at the end of free agency with the remaining dollars the Cubs have to spend I say you go for it. Even if all he does is platoon with Morel against tougher righties and give PCA/Seiya/Happ a day off every once in a while in the outfield, he’ll likely hit 25-30 home runs and provide a scare wherever he is in the lineup.